When electrical work needs to be performed on an electrical system in a building or facility, it is usually necessary to trace and identify which circuit interrupter device (i.e., circuit breaker or fuse) is supplying power to a specific AC power branch circuit.
Manual identification of the fuse or circuit breaker can be accomplished by removing each fuse or opening each circuit breaker, thereby disrupting the power flow through the circuit. Each test point must subsequently be examined to determine whether the power to the test point has been disconnected. This method is not only time consuming, but also may not be feasible in situations where it would be hazardous to interrupt the power flow to certain branch circuit outlets, i.e., in a hospital or in environments where there are computers in use without backup power.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide a circuit tester that provides an identification signal that is easily detectable by an adequately sensitive receiver, and is simple to implement and inexpensive to produce.
Accordingly, there is also a need for a circuit tester that provides more reliable identification of a selected circuit branch while making it easier and less time consuming for the user to operate by eliminating the need for manual calibration and the associated potential for user error.
These and other useful aspects of the invention will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the present drawings, specification and claims before them.